Judge Extends Legal Rights for Guantánamo Detainees

A federal judge ruled against the Bush administration on Monday, declaring that detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were clearly entitled to have federal courts examine whether they have been lawfully detained.  The judge, Joyce Hens Green of Federal District Court in Washington, rejected the argument that federal courts could not issue writs of habeas corpus for Guantánamo that would require the government to justify the detentions before a judge. Judge Green said that although the Guantánamo base was in Cuba, the Supreme Court definitively ruled in June that it was not out of the reach of American law as administration officials have argued.  "American authorities are in full control at Guantánamo Bay, their activities are immune from Cuban law," leaving no reason to contend that American law does not apply, she wrote. "Although this nation unquestionably must take strong action under the leadership of the commander in chief to protect itself against enormous and unprecedented threats," the judge wrote, "that necessity cannot negate the existence of the most basic fundamental rights for which the people of this country have fought and died for well over 200 years."  Judge Green also declared unconstitutional the tribunals that the military established over the summer to review the detentions in the hope of satisfying the Supreme Court ruling. In addition, she questioned whether some of the information used against the detainees had been obtained by torture and was thus unreliable, the first time that problem has been brought up in a judicial opinion. [more]

• Detainee-Rights Ruling Appealed. A federal judge allowed the Bush administration to immediately appeal her ruling that Guantanamo Bay prisoners have constitutional rights and that the military tribunals designed to review their cases were constitutionally flawed. U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green also put on hold her ruling so it would not take effect immediately while the administration goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals. In a sharp rebuke, Green ruled Monday that the prisoners at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law. [more]